TOM HOFFARTH on THE MEDIA: Kings TV analyst Jim Fox enjoys his stay with -- and sipping out of -- Lord Stanley's mug

The clock was about to strike midnight late Wednesday - curfew time - and the Stanley Cup had to prepare for a graceful exit.

Cup keeper Mike Bolt put on his white gloves, but then asked Jim Fox, the Kings' longtime TV analyst and host of the party, if he would like the honor of personally escorting out one of the world's most revered sports trophies.

Fox didn't hesitate.

He and his wife, Susie, got on each side of the 35-inch tall, 34?-pound hunk of engraved silver and gently carried it out the front door of their friends' Palos Verdes Estates home, down the stairs and up the driveway into the darkness.

Bolt opened the back hatch of his rented Chevy Traverse. Fox angled the Cup just right so it fit snug into the large black trunk, and Bolt closed the lid and latched it shut.

The Stanley Cup, L.A.'s latest rock star, was about to make another road trip, flying to New York on Thursday where Dustin Brown and Jonathan Quick were awaiting its arrival for the full day they'd been planning to spend with it.

But as he stood there, watching the life of the party be driven away after nearly 200 of his family and friends got some intimate time with it, Fox was hardly bittersweet.

"I wasn't sad at all when it was leaving," Fox said. "I really wasn't. We had such a great time with it. I was just so glad it was there and everyone at the party got what they wanted."

And more, as it turned out.

As recent NHL tradition allows, each player and coach on the Kings is allowed a full day with the Stanley Cup this summer. But those on the Kings' staff - including broadcasters Fox, Bob Miller, Nick Nickson and Daryl Evans - are also allowed a four-hour window of opportunity on an arranged date to do with it what they want. To an extent, of course.

In late June, Miller, the TV play-by-play Hall of Famer, was one of the first to have the Cup, but had to arrange a party quickly while on vacation. They were going to try to keep it simple and invite some 90 people to their home in West Hills, but it ended up doubling in size and it was moved to the Braemar Country Club in Tarzana.

Nickson and Evans, the radio broadcast team, will have their party time in September, and are already trying to arrange for ways to have longtime Kings' season-seat holders on the e-vite list, along with using it as a fundraiser.

All four were in attendance Wednesday for Fox's turn with the Cup, which Bolt made sure got there just before a spectacular view of the sunset unfolded.

Fox admits in his 10 years playing for the Kings in the 1980 s, he rarely allowed himself to entertain thoughts of what it would be like to hoist the Cup on the ice, let alone plan a party for it. When given this rare opportunity, he said it felt as if he and his wife were planning a wedding - finding a big-enough reception area, hiring a photographer and caterer, and then making a list of invitees.

"I just wanted to make sure all my friends could come and touch it and get a picture with it," said the 52-year-old, who added that he was most family members from his hometown in Ontario, Canada could attend -- including his older brother, Mike, who flew in at the last minute joining his father in law Bill Core and sisters in law Francine DeMarchi and Kathy Dunster.

"We've been here 32 years now, and we've made so many friends who got to know and love hockey, and we wanted them here. It all went well."

Because of Fox's love of fine wines, many of his friends thanked him by bringing some high-end beverages to be sampled from the Cup.

Fox made sure all protocol was followed, starting with only allowing someone whose name is on the Cup, or will have his name on it, to actually lift the Cup and offer someone to drink from it. Problem solved: Jamie Kompon, the Kings' assistant coach (who has subsequently decided to take a job with the Chicago Blackhawks), was there and did all the heavy hoisting.

The lineup of samples included a 1961 Chateau Margaux, a 1974 Chateau D'Yquem and a 1996 Chateau Mouton Rothschild, after two champagnes - a 2003 Dom Perignon and a 1999 Piat D'Or - were enjoyed. All four broadcasters at one point shared the same champagne and posed with the Cup - their own team picture.

"I did have a few sips, but I wanted to make sure I was always in control and we weren't doing anything stupid," said Fox, who wouldn't even touch the Cup for years until Kings' captain Brown handed it to him during the team post-championship party, and even then Fox will not lift it over his head again.

The Hockey Hall of Fame is specific about some rules in regards to the Cup's dignity. A sheet sent out to everyone who has the Cup spells out that it will be dropped off at their designated site of choice at 8 p.m. and picked up at midnight, "or before if it is not treated with respect."

In some regards, it's worked out better for the broadcasters that the Kings won the Cup now rather than in 1993, when they had their last real shot at it. It wasn't until 1995 that the Cup was allowed to travel during the summer with the winning team, but that was only with players. Now it has increased to include coaches, trainers and staff.

Miller, who finally got his up-close-and-personal time with the Cup after a 39-year wait, said the best time for him was "watching the faces of the people get a look at the Cup, realizing they could get their picture with it, asking 'Can I touch it?'

"Some would ask, 'Can I kiss it?' I said, 'Sure, we're giving free tetanus shots in the back of the room.'

"To me, that's what's so great about the Cup - no other trophy in sports is so accessible to fans."

Miller may be turning 74 this October, but he's got no intention of retiring now that's he's called a Cup champion.

Nor will he get tired of attending Cup parties.

"My wife (Judy) and I had gone to a couple of parties, and we thought, 'We don't really have to go to everyone who has the Cup,'" Miller said. "But then after we had our party, we really want to go to as many as we can now. It's been so fun."

Earlier in the day, Fox and Evans were part of the Kings Alumni Association and Kings Care Foundation outdoor party with the Cup as it was on display in the parking lot of the Redondo Beach Caf?, where some 400-plus fans were able to move through a line in a matter of two hours to snap personal photos.

In the afternoon, the Cup made a stopover at a private party in Century City at the Fox studios.

No matter what expense was paid to have his four-hour personal time with the Cup, Fox said he'd do it again next year.